Dr. Wooksoo Kim is the director of the Immigrant and Refugee Research Institute (IRRI) at the University at Buffalo, which she co-founded in 2014. Through IRRI, Kim has been developing a network of researchers who are committed to creating and disseminating practical knowledge to improve the lives of immigrants and refugees. She prioritizes mutually beneficial collaborations between university-based academic researchers and immigrant and refugee communities in her work.

As a social work researcher, Kim aims to improve the well-being of immigrant and refugee populations in the US. She uses a community-based participatory research approach to gain a deeper understanding of the needs of these populations and design culturally responsive interventions to address those needs.

In addition to her research, Kim also brings a community-focused approach to her teaching.  She uses a service-learning model, allowing her students to gain hands-on learning experience in research methods while providing much-needed program evaluations to local social service programs and agencies.

Kim’s earlier work has explored a range of issues impacting Asian immigrants, such as mental health, alcohol use, and gambling. More recently, she conducted a series of surveys focusing on the needs of refugee populations in Western New York, and based on the results, she is exploring interventions that utilize the available cutting-edge technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), to address many challenges faced by refugee populations and provide opportunities for them to learn such technologies to improve their lives in their new home.